Reaching Out & Letting Go
by Erikstrulove
Summary: SHIELD conducts a raid on an offshore island and what they have found will lead to revelations about our favorite Avengers past, and will change his future forever.
1. It Begins

AN: Watched Iron Man 3 last week and I've been addicted to Avengers fanfics ever since. Mainly Tonywhump! of course. And so anyways I had this idea and here we are... Please let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: Avengers isn't mine as far as I know.

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The avengers had assembled in what Tony had started thinking to himself as the "Fury room". Evidently Shield had conducted a raid that morning on a small offshore privately owned island and discovered something that Fury deemed necessary to inform the avengers of. Tony idly wondered if it was a doctor Moreau type situation and voiced his theory aloud.

Fury gave him a look designed to silence any underling for interrupting his narrative but as Fury knew, it didn't even make the billionaire pause.

"Are we talking dog men here, or cat?" Tony's expression brightened and he clapped his hands, "Tiger woman! Haven't seen one of those yet."

Fury set his folder down on top of another, unopened folder, and clasped his hands. "Sorry to disappoint you Stark." He leaned back in his chair and considered the folders in front of him with a serious gaze before pulling out the bottom one and tossing it acrossed the table to Stark. "This time I think I mean it."

The other avengers looked on in curiosity, turning their gazes between Fury, Stark, and the folder in turn. They hadn't been passed a folder, so whatever it was pertained to Stark first, and then, since the rest of the team was here for the briefing it would undoubtably be revealed to them second.

Bruce wondered if a cache' of Tony's weapons had been found. That would upset the billionaire, but Fury seemed a bit genuine in this case so perhaps that wasnt it. Something personal to Tony, but what was it?

Clint and Natasha looked at eachother, silently communicating, but neither of them could figure out what might be personal to the Iron Man on a private island raided by Shield. So they kept silent and waited.

Thor wasnt exactly paying attention having just figured out how to text Jane on his new Thor-proof Stark phone and was hunched over trying to open a picture message that promised to be of Jane with a cute mastiff puppy she had just aquired.

Steve, after gauging the rest of the teams reactions, was peering intently at Tony waiting for him to read the contents and share with the rest of them.

Tony eyed it warily. "A folder Patchy? We're not in the dark ages here, ok well _Shield is close _but would using a thumb drive for _once_ kill you?"

"Take your damn folder Stark."

Tony, sensing Furys seriousness; _ok when was the man not serious? _But in this case Tony sensed something a little deeper and swiped up the folder with a deflective quirk on his lips. He thumbed through the folder seeing pictures charts and graphs. And suddenly he_ knew _it was serious. The pictures were of a little girl. He spared a glance at Fury who nodded and then stood, "Why dont we take a break and let Mr. Stark read in peace."

The team -minus Thor who had finally gotten his picture message- was about to argue that they hadnt been doing anything to _break_ the peace; but the look on Furys face didnt leave room for arguments, and the look on Tonys face was enough to make them not_ want _to argue.

Tony didnt look as the team reluctently left the room. His eyes had paused at the picture of a little girl. _Who was she? Why did Fury give him this file before the others?_ There were only a few reasons Tony could think of, and each gave him a dull ache in his gut. The more he dwelled on those reasons the more his mind detailed out each scenario for him. Like watching a horrible movie that he knew would leave him feeling drained and empty. He closed the folder and pushed it back, resting his palms on the cover and shut his eyes, willing the scenarios to stop playing out in his head. With a deep breath he pulled the folder back to him and opened to the cover sheet.


	2. Oh Crap

AN: EEP! Thankyou for taking the time to review you guys that's awesome!

Disclaimer: I don't own Avengers, but, if someone wants to get me a gift I'll take it!

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After being dismissed by Fury the team had stood outside the briefing room waiting on Tony but after ten minutes it seemed he wouldn't be calling them back in anytime soon, and they decided to grab some lunch. The team was following Bruce towards the commissary and was so deep into their discussion of what might be in the folder that they didn't notice when Bruce deviated towards the medical bay to retrieve a notebook he had left a few days ago.

When they arrived Thor halted, "My friends, this is not the place of dinning."

Bruce raised his eyebrow, "I said I needed my notebook, you guys just followed me." Bruce made to open the door to room 37 but was blocked by an agent. "Um, I need my notebook. I left it in there on the counter...its blue." He made a vague gesture as to the basic shape of the notebook. When the agent didn't move Bruce looked back at his friends who shrugged and then back to the guard. "I'm usually allowed in there so if you want to..." The guard made no move to let him in so Bruce changed tactics. "Maybe you could just bring it out to me?" Bruce asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

Finally the agent made eye contact. "I'll have someone deliver it to you before you leave the helicarrier Mr. Banner."

Steve stepped forward, "Is there something going on here?"

Clint edged forward also, trying to peer through the tiny window at the top of the door.

The agent moved to block the archer with a frown. "Sir, Director Fury has asked no one be allowed to enter this room unless by his permi-" The agents words were cut off by a childish scream and the sound of equipment falling to the floor. The agent was distracted and the team pushed their way in.

A pair of small feet disappeared underneath the hospital bed and an IV stand was lying on its side, the IV needle with tape having obviously been just tore out.

Natasha scowled at the nurse who was rushing to pull up a syringe of sedative. "What's going on here? Why was this door under guard?"

Before the frenzied nurse could answer a booming voice from behind them made all but Clint and Natasha jump, "What the hell is going on here?"

Bruce held up his hands, "I just wanted my notebook."

"I merely desired a micro _wave_ burrito; it was not my intention to come here." Thor defended, and hurried out of the room.

"Well you are, and I want to know why there was not an agent _at this door_."

Said agent winced and opened his mouth to explain but was cut off by a glare from his superior. "Everyone get out, and let the nurses do what I pay them to do."

Steve crossed his arms, "And just what is that? What exactly is going on here sir? With all due respect since when does Shield have any reason to-" He was cut off by Fury.

"Enough!"

Bruce and Clint had been trying to catch another glimpse of the child but whoever it was seemed content with hiding. Steve and Natasha were glaring at the nurse and Fury respectively.

"What the hell guys!"

Everyone turned at the exclamation and saw Tony at the doorway, he had just squeezed past Thor and the agent who had been supposed to guard the door.

_Five minutes earlier:_

Tony closed the folder, he stood and began pacing. This, this was _definitely_ not one of the scenarios he had ran through in his mind, but it still left him feeling just as lost, and angry.

He paced back and forth.

What kind of people? ...But no, Tony _knew_ what kind of people did this. People who wanted a weapon. And it was _his _fault; there was no doubt about it in Tony's mind. He was responsible for the suffering of a six year old little girl. And if she hadn't been found that morning? A whole life being lived in solitude and torment.

_His_ fault.

Tony paused in his pacing, trembling with rage. He grabbed hold of one of the chairs, he absently noted it was the one Fury sat in, and slammed it hard into the table. The swivel broke off the bottom and he picked it up and threw it hard against the wall.

It wasn't enough to quell his rage.

He picked up the other half of the chair and hammered it into the table until he was left holding just a piece of the chair and it was a pile of metal and stuffing at his feet.

He kicked at the pieces and began to pace again.

They had cloned him, and altered the DNA so that she would be born a girl. Believing a female would be easier to handle and manipulate as she grew older. The idea didn't make sense to Tony at first. If it was a clone being raised in an isolated environment they could tell him whatever they wanted and he would have been indoctrinated with whatever crap they could come up with. Then he read the part about genetic memory. He had no idea how they could even begin to do it. But they had. The only problem was that it would come in through a filter. Graphs in the report had shown him only memories with a high enough MER count would filter through, and only at the correlating age. In short, whatever major memories Tony had had by age six were in that little girls head, and she would continue to accumulate them as she grew. They had tried accelerating her aging process to get at the memories faster but had failed.

They thought they could farm out his biggest inventions and breakthroughs through the memories she would gain. No doubt she had the memory of his first robot already.

Tony felt sick as he recalled other, highly memorable events which revolved around that robot.

He slammed his fist into the wall.

The report showed that there was an unexpected problem however and that they hoped to correct it when they had it figured out. It was with the memory intake, there was a possibility it would fail by the time she reached her preteens.

How the hell does that even work?

Where does that technology come from?

Someone was going to answer for it.

Tony sat back down and used his StarkPad to copy all the pages from the report. "Jarvis new folder, priority one. Also look for anything out there that might have a link to this."

"Of course sir. And where shall I look sir?"

"Everywhere, Jarvis. I want the governments searched I want private corporations searched I want freaking _Shield_ searched. _Everywhere_ Jarvis."

"Of course sir. If I may sir my auditory sensors are picking up elevated stress levels, perhaps a glass of water sir?"

Tony ignored the suggestion and scrubbed his face with the palm of his hand, absently noting his knuckles were bloody and his palms had fingernail shaped cuts.

"Jarvis hack into Shields security feeds. Where is-" Tony paused, the reports hadn't given her name. He wondered if they had bothered to call her anything at all.

"She is in medical room 37, sir."

"Thanks Jarv." Tony smiled; it was like the AI could read his mind sometimes.

"You are very welcome, sir."

_Present:_

"What the hell guys!"

Fury brought his hand to his head, feeling a headache coming on. Not uncommon when the Avengers were involved. He noticed Starks bloodied hands, "Don't tell me I have to replace my paintings."

"Just your chair. And maybe your table." He noted the empty bed and the very nervous nurse with the syringe in hand. She was obviously flustered and had no idea what to do but kept looking at the floor towards the bed. "What's going on?"

"I think we would all like to know the answer to that question." Natasha spoke.

Tony took a moment to consider the situation and pursed his lips, "Everyone out."

Fury looked like he was going to argue, but he knew the child wasn't in critical condition and after reading the file himself, decided he would 'cede to Starks demands for now. The man must be furious; hell Fury knew he would be if _he_ were in the mans shoes.

"Now, out. Shoo. Feed Thor."

Fury nodded to the nurse and made eye contact with the rest of the Avengers. "Let's go people."

Clint frowned, "Geez talk about deja vu. First we get kicked out of-" His voice trailed out of earshot as he left with the others. But everyone kept glancing back after Tony shut the door.

As for Tony, he was now alone save for the little girl hiding under the bed.

_Crap._

He had no idea what to do.

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AN: C'mon people click the little box! Oh wait its not a little box anymore is it? Well click it anyways and leave a review! Cuz it'd be cool if you did and it'll make you feel good about yourself!

Also, I've got this story planned out, but the only thing I'm having trouble with is the little girls name if anyone has a suggestion..


	3. Worlds End

AN: EEP! Thankyou so much for reviewing guys you are all awesome! The suggestions were great, but I still haven't settled on an actual name so keep the suggestions coming.

Disclaimer: Can I own them? No? Okay.

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Tony rubbed his face with both hands and rocked back on his heels before washing the blood off his hands. "So," Tony had no idea how to begin, the report gave him the information on the project, but not about the actual subjects personality or what she knew about herself. "I uh, see you're under the bed. How's that going for you?" _Yeah, real smooth_. Tony toweled off his hands and walked over to the side of the bed nudging the IV stand out of the way with his foot and sat down on the floor cross-legged. "So uh, you can come out if you want. Although I _totally_ get why you would want to hide, this place _stinks_. The accommodations are tiny and have you _tasted_ the food? Thor likes it but you can't really take his opinion on food, alcohol_ yes_, food no." _Crap, how the heck was he supposed to - what was he going to do anyways? Take care of her? Find her a home like a lost puppy?_ All he knew was that this was all _his _fault, and he needed to make it right.

The little girl under the bed listened carefully. She knew that voice and had heard it many times from video recordings. The people who kept her always hoped to pull memories faster by showing her things from Tony Stark's life; was this another attempt? They had explained she was a clone and that her purpose in life was to bring them power through her memories. In addition to the video recordings of weapons demonstrations and interviews her keepers had also had her study various subjects within her grasp of understanding so she would understand just what a _clone_ was. She was a _copy_ of this man.

_Why was he talking to her?_

She wasn't sure why he would be. This whole day had been a huge mess and was so confusing she wanted to sleep or study and never see anyone at all ever again.

"So um. If you want me to leave I will. I just thought; okay I have _no idea _what I was thinking, actually." Tony unfolded his legs and brought up his knees to rest his elbows on and sighed. This wasn't going well.

The little girl frowned, he sounded lost. She didn't want to be the cause but suspected that that was the case. "I'm sorry."

Tony barely heard the whisper and held his breath to listen harder. When there was nothing else he spoke softly, "Why? What do you think you have to be sorry for? Is it for breaking this IV stand? 'Cause to be honest _I_ would have broken it too, it's an eyesore. I break one a week, minimum." Tony heard either a snort at his attempt at levity or a sniffle, he couldn't be sure. "It's gotta be a little cold down there right? Why don't you come out?"

She was supposed to always obey adults, not obeying resulted in punishment and she didn't want to be punished. Decision made she wormed her way out from under the bed along the wall acrossed from Tony. She looked up and froze, _it was really him! _Why? She plopped to the floor and leaned against the wall, knees up, mirroring Tony's position.

"Whoa! I was _freaking_ adorable."

The little girl jumped at his loud exclamation, but then realized what he said. Her lips curled up a little in a shy smile.

"What's your name? They don't call you mini-me do they? Maybe CT, for cloned Tony?" He smiled.

She shook her head, wisps of dark brown hair falling in front of her eyes as she did. "One one nine."

Again Tony had to strain to hear her. "119?" Tony thought about it for a moment before he got it, his initials A.S. "Wow, that's unoriginal."

She suddenly straightened and took a deep breath as though about to say something important before leaning back into the wall and looking down at her fingers.

"What? You can say it. Tell me something." He urged. _Anything will do because I have no idea what the hell I'm doing._

"They said, they..." She faltered.

"What did they say?" He leaned forward, brows furrowed.

"They said..." She looked up into his eyes before lowering them again in shame. "They said since I wasn't a real person, I don't get a real name. I'm a_ copy_. Not a real... a real person."

That's when Tony felt it. Something shifted inside of his chest and it _hurt_. He rubbed at his arc reactor as he spoke, "_They_, were _wrong_. You are as real as I am princess. You know how I know?"

She shook her head.

"_Because_, you're my copy." She looked troubled at his words. _Crap, did I make it worse? _"_I'm_ real, right?"

She nodded.

"And how do you know that?"

She clenched her fingers tight around her knees, not sure what answer was expected. "You're here, you're real, and you've...lived. Unique."

"What _you've_ lived for like, six years, okay they were probably_ crappy _years but you've lived them right? And _unique_? Uh, _hello?" _Tony raised his eyebrows. "How many adorable Tony Stark princess clones do you think are out there? _One, _you," He pointed at her. "That's it."

Her eyes widened a bit at those words, he had said it like it was the absolute truth. A warm feeling settled over her. She had the uncomfortable feeling it wouldn't last.

_Meanwhile In the Commissary:_

"Twenty bucks says it's his kid," Clint said around a mouthful of cardboard tasting pizza.

Natasha frowned at him for his lack of manners and Steve spoke, "You really think so?"

"There's bound to be a few illegitimate kids out there."

Bruce poked at his pizza, wondering if it was edible before realizing he had eaten far worse in the past. "I don't know guys; Tony seems like the kind of guy-"

Clint cut him off with a snort, "To what, _not_ sleep around?"

"I'm not saying he didn't _used_ to be the playboy the media paints him as but I'm saying, that he seems like he would have been more careful, used protection."

Natasha agreed, "Women probably would have tried just for the money and fame."

Bruce nodded, "Exactly. Although, I wouldn't rule out the kid theory. I mean, there _is_ what appears to be a child in the infirmary. And, obviously, it's related to Tony one way or another. Why else the reaction he gave when he came in."

Natasha nodded. "Plus Fury didn't argue with him about it, that's saying something."

Thor made his way to the table balancing a whole tray of piping hot microwave burritos.

Clint leaned forward, "You got enough burritos there?"

"I believe so my friend, however the kitchen maidens inform me if it is not, there are more in the 'storage freezer' along with something called 'hot pockets.'"

"Sounds like those ladies have a crush on you Thor."

Thor looked thoughtful as he bit into his first burrito, "I shall inform them my love belongs to the Lady Jane."

Clint put a placating hand on Thors arm, "Don't worry about it Thor I'm sure they know."

That seemed to mollify Thor's sense of honor and he resumed eating; knowing he had to do so quickly before the burritos hardened into inedible bricks.

_Infirmary:_

The little girl yawned and scratched at the top of her head. As she did so Tony noticed a little scrape on her arm, probably from when she knocked over the IV stand and scrambled under the bed.

"Here, let's put some peroxide on that. Probably got all kinds of nasty hospital dust in that." he got up and held out his arms towards her. "C'mon."

She looked up at him before quickly diverting her eyes. Did he want to pick her up? She frowned. _What was the correct response?_ Before she could come up with one Tony, not known for his patience, picked her up and set her on the bed in one swift motion. She didn't let any outward reaction show, but inside she was both stunned and scared. Stunned because he had made contact and picked her up, and not like the way she was used to when the guards would drag her along when the scientists needed her for experiments and she was too afraid to go. And scared because she hadn't reacted, _what if that hurt his feelings? What if he was angry now? _But he seemed no different when he spoke again.

_Damn, did I scare her? She looks scared..._ "I may not be a doctor but how hard can it be right?" He pointed to himself, "Genius remember?" He found the peroxide and poured it on a handful of cotton swabs and walked back over to her. "Let's see your arm."

She held out her arm and Tony held it steady while he gently cleaned the dust out of the scrape. "Well, the janitorial staff is going to be getting a nasty reprimand tonight. Or maybe a rick roll virus on all their cell phones." Tony looked thoughtful and smirked, "_Virus_, definitely gonna do the virus."

"Thank you." She whispered.

Tony held his hands up, "Hey, I prank the janitorial staff for all my friends." He paused, seeing her smile a little quirky smile much like his own. "You're welcome though princess." He frowned though when her smile quickly faded.

"Where, where are the scientists? Shouldn't they be scanning me soon, for MER activity?" She whispered. "They normally don't leave me too long, like this. Guards should be coming soon." She looked around nervously as though they would appear any moment. "They always do, when I, when I think they've forgotten. That's when they come to take me to the labs. The labs, for '_speriments_, and _tests_ and, and they _always_ come."

_They didn't tell her? Of course not, that'd make it easy_. "They won't come for you anymore. Those scientists? You will _never_ see them again. That facility where you lived is gone. _Kaput_. Finished."

That made sense, if the scientist's had Tony Stark already, they wouldn't have needed her, a copy. But if the scientists were no more, and there were no guards to bring her someplace else... She felt herself starting to sweat, her chest hurt and her heart was racing as she struggled to breathe evenly.

_Oh crap oh crap oh crap. I just told her the world she knew for six years is gone like a callous jerk_. Tony sat beside her wondering if he needed that nurse back but deciding against it for now. He could deal with a panic attack; he knew all about them didn't he? Tony, suddenly very unsure of himself awkwardly put his arm around her pulling her into his side and made soothing sounds. "It's okay, you're safe, I've got you. It's gonna be okay." Tony started to doubt his decision to not call the nurse back in. As the little girl began struggling to breathe he swooped her up and stood, holding her close to his chest as he swayed back and forth. He spotted the call button on the counter acrossed the room and made his way over to it.

119 was panicking, no more guards, no more scientists? She had no more purpose in life? Nothing made sense, where would she go? Where would she live?

_She would disappear_.

The movement startled her, she felt herself being held close and at first it scared her even more. Thoughts were flying through her head at an incredible pace, too fast for her to follow but for the main theme of being _displaced_; and then she felt the rocking. She opened her eyes for a second and before closing them registered a faint blue light. She opened them again and stared, mesmerized by the faint light shining from under the black T-shirt. She could feel a warmth coming from the light and she felt comforted by the arms around her and the rocking motions she felt.

Tony paused, his finger light against the call button. Her breathing was evening out; the sobs were slowing into a hiccup. He looked down at her, her eyelashes were wet and she was staring into his reactor. _That wasn't so bad. Yeah, I got this_. He sat back down and rocked side to side, rubbing circles on her back until the hiccups subsided. "Yeah, it's been a sucky day for us both huh? _Your _whole world is destroyed, -but, let's be honest, it was a crappy world- and I found out people were torturing a little girl because they wanted _my_ technology."

Tony grabbed the beds controller and raised the back up so he could scoot back and lean against it. Looking down he saw she had fallen asleep against his chest. He laid his head back and closed his eyes, the emotional turmoil of the day taking its toll. "Yeah, sucks to be us." Within a few moments, he too was asleep.

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Thanks for reading guys! Let me know what you thought of this chapter please! I though maybe I was making Tony a little OOC, but then I thought, _nah_, he was pretty good with Harley in Iron Man 3. So yeah.


	4. In Which Pics are Taken

Disclaimer: Avengers is not my property, but seriously, give it to me!

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Thor had finished his burritos in record time, and had moved on to hot pockets. The rest of the team was getting bored of waiting on Tony so they decided to go check on him. Clint knocked -very lightly; he didn't want to be turned away again- and when there was no answer peeked through the small window at the top of the door. He turned back the team with an expression of unconcealed glee. "We gotta get a picture of this." He pulled out his phone and, holding it ready slowly turned the knob and cracked the door open just enough to slide his arm through with his cellphone to snap a picture.

Natasha frowned at him but secretly approved after she saw the scene for herself. Tony had fallen asleep in the hospital bed with a little girl sleeping against his chest, it was priceless gold. If Clint hadn't gotten so many pictures on his cell she would have been tempted herself. She watched with a small, amused smile as Clint got close-ups.

The superhero team stood quietly for a few moments, taking in the scene that none of them had ever imagined they'd see.

"They look alike," Natasha said quietly.

Steve raised an incredulous brow, "How can you tell?"

"It's easy to see." She shrugged.

Tony's consciousness was worming its way back to wakefulness as he registered an unfamiliar weight on his chest and the uncanny feeling that he was being watched. His mind snapped into alertness and awoke fully with a gasp. He sat up, looked down; _oh, clone_ and then looked up to the amused faces of his teammates. "I'd better not see anything on your MySpace's."

Clint held a straight face as he uploaded the picture to the helicarriers VPN.

Tony carefully slide sideways and shifted the little girl onto the bed without waking her. He was pulling the bed sheet up to her chin when his phone beeped. He pulled it out and frowned at the new alert, "Really Legolas?" With a few swipes on his phone he had hacked Shield and deleted the picture without even looking, his glaring eyes focused on the archer. "Payback, will, be, sweet."

Clint smiled, "I sent myself copies, you won't get them all."

"Wanna bet Hawkass?"

Clint just smirked. "The great Tony Stark, all _cuddly wuddly_."

"Jealous much? Don't worry," He winked, "Daddy saved some cuddles for you too."

Clint started to reply but Bruce cut in. "Uh, Tony," Bruce started, gesturing to Tony's chest, "You have a puddle, there."

Tony looked down and sure enough, his T-shirt had a wide circle of drool. He tugged at his shirt with a grimace. "And _that_ is why I don't have kids."

Steve pursed his lips, "So this would be?" He gestured to the sleeping child.

He glanced over then back to Steve, his face passive. "Oh, yeah that. Not my kid."

"If this child does not originate with you, Man of Iron, from whom then does she?"

Tony shrugged, "I didn't _say_ she doesn't originate from me. I just said she's not my kid."

The team frowned at Starks words. Here was a kid he knew was his, but he was refusing to call it his? _Typical Stark_, Steve thought. _He only cares about himself_. "That's a little harsh don't you think?"

Tony rolled his eyes, _of course _the Cap would think that way. The man had to take _everything_ at face value.

"I do not understand friend Stark."

Bruce felt there was more and waited, Tony would clue them in after he had his guessing game fun in typical, Tony Stark fashion.

The two assassins were content to let Steve continue by himself but the man merely shook his head, clearly disappointed in his teammate. Natasha finally caved, curiosity getting the best of her. "Okay then who is she?"

Tony perked up. "Ah, we have a taker; what's your best guess?"

"We aren't playing guessing games Stark." She said just before Clint had a chance to rattle off his list of guesses.

"Killjoy." Tony pulled a paper towel and tied to wipe off the drool. "Well apparently I am _so awesome_, that the world decided it needed _another _Tony Stark. But," He held up a finger, "There can only be one. So they made mini-me, a mini_-she_."

He had said it lightly, but Bruce sensed the anger underneath and judging by the sorry state of the man's hands that anger had been unleashed in the briefing room.

Thor frowned, "I do not understand, _another _Tony Stark?"

Bruce rubbed a hand over his face, "He means they cloned him Thor. She's his _copy_."

"Don't call her that." Tony snapped.

Realization dawned on Steve's face, his mouth falling open. "_What!_ Cloning? How is it possible?"

Tony's expression darkened as he tossed the paper towel away, "I don't know, but I sure as hell am going to find out. And keep the voice down spangles, kid's sleeping."

"What will happen to her now?" Natasha asked, wondering if Shield would have a scientific interest in the clone.

_Good question, _Tony thought. "Well she's not staying here, if that's what you're wondering. I'll..." Tony looked away. _I'll what? What will I do?_ "I'll think of something."

There was something bothering Bruce. Why would they clone Tony, how does that benefit anyone? "I don't understand Tony,_ why _would they want to clone you?"

"Other than the obvious?" He gestured to himself.

The corner of Bruce's lips quirked up a tiny bit in amusement, "Yes Tony, other than the fact you are indeed _Tony Stark_."

Tony looked at 119 who was still in a deep sleep, an inexplicable fondness rising in his chest. "Lets take storytime somewhere else kiddies."

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AN: I love writing this! If you enjoy reading it, please let me know. Or tell me you hate it...but if you do, dude its chapter four and you're still here!

Also VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. I figure Shield has one.


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